Inside Spain's Data Revolution
Amidst a technological revamp, Spain is turning to Palantir to help government and commercial entities become better, faster and save some money
I’ve written many articles on how Palantir is being used by various entities and institutions in different countries. Some of these include Canada, Japan and Israel. These countries did have a history of working with Palantir before Foundry links appeared, and were already using the software not only for police or for intelligence purposes, but companies in those countries had access to it, too.
One of these examples is the UAE, which was the main topic of last week’s article. I wanted to highlight the fact that they have been increasing their use of Foundry for the government and other companies in the region. Just 3 days later, Abdelrahman Muneer, Palantir’s Head of Marketing for Middle East & Africa, announced that the company was going to sponsor an event in the UAE, coincidentally.
With the exception of Sonnedix and Lilium, who have projects based in the country, Spain hasn’t had any real Foundry presence in the commercial world until a couple of months ago, with the announcement of a partnership between Palantir and Bosonit, an IT company based in Logroño, La Rioja.
The country hasn’t exactly been a leader in avant-garde tech, but an interesting part of the story is that Spain is prioritizing US software over European-developed solutions.
Back in December, the Ministry of Defense asked Palantir to deliver a Proof of Concept for building a platform for data fusion and intelligence analytics for the Armed Forces. What does that mean? That the Ministry is going to test what Palantir offers on top of Foundry or Gotham for defense purposes, and is probably going to sign a final contract in the coming months, if they like it enough. As always, institutional stuff is slow, so the news will probably be coming slowly.
They have also been closing deals with American manufacturers to provide the military with vehicles. I’m talking about purchasing F-35s for the air force and F-110 frigates for the navy.
As a way of establishing a relationship between the Proof of Concept and the hardware being bought by the Ministry, I’m seeing links and other data I’m looking at that connect to the CIFAS, the Intelligence Center of the Armed Forces (or Centro de Inteligencia de las Fuerzas Armadas).
Back in 2020, they released an unlisted video presenting the CIFAS, with some aspects with an incredible resemblance to what Palantir likes to show in their own videos, too.
So, other than the PoC with the Ministry of Defense, and the IT company called Bosonit, what do we have? A couple of months ago, I also found that Mutua Madrileña, the biggest insurer in Spain, is using Foundry.
There is also a new link that belongs to the biggest telecommunications company in Spain, and with a really big presence all around the world. They own different subsidiaries like Movistar, O2 and Telxius. Of course I’m talking about Telefónica, and the fact that they now have a direct link inside of the Foundry system is a testament to what I’m saying here; that Spain is discovering Foundry for the commercial world and is at least trying it out. We shall see if these links stay active or not, and that will be detrimental to the health of Palantir in the country.
Needless to say, this wouldn’t be the first time that the country has flirted with Palantir, since Bloomberg’s BQ reported back in April of 2020 that Spain, alongside many other governments, had adopted Palantir software to try and predict Covid-19 outbreaks and learn how to prevent them to contain the virus.
But this, today and for the last couple of months, would be the first time that Spanish companies have had direct access to Foundry, at least judging by the links.
Also the noise is increasing, and the fact that I’m seeing more and more Spanish links every month would be a direct consequence of the fact that 1 year ago Palantir opened their office in Spain. The fruits are beginning to be collected, and as I’m saying here, I’m sure the majority of these are trials, but it’s better to have them and see them than not seeing anything happening. Movement is better, even if little, than a still image.